Jailbreak iOS 6.x Or Upgrade to iOS 7: Which One Are You?

It is expected that Apple will release to the public iOS 7 on the day it announces the new iPhones. That’s September 10. There’s been an overwhelming response and acceptance for iOS 7’s design aesthetic. And most importantly, iOS 7 does have some cool new features that render many jailbreak tweaks redundant.

As such, out of the several hundred millions of users who use iOS on their iPhones, iPads and iPod Touchs, only a fraction of the users jailbreak. Last year’s Evasi0n jailbreak saw a record number of downloads (and Cydia recorded a high number of users) but even then the numbers were in tens of millions – a considerable but small fraction of the total number of users inside the iOS ecosystem.

But to those that jailbreak their iPhones and iPads, it is an enormously useful and occasionally usability-changing decision. My own case – and you must note that I’m not an intensive jailbreak-tweak user – is a blatant example: at any given time, I’m using at least six or seven different tweaks. Some of them I rely on so much that the occasional Safe Mode cripples me.

I’m not just talking about old-timer tweaks like Activator or eye-candy Zeppelin but even the new ones like AltKeyboard have this profound effect.

Keeping that line of thought, what would you do on the day of iOS 7’s release?

Will you upgrade to iOS 7 abandoning all jailbreak tweaks or will you wait it out and stick to the jailbroken iOS 6.x?

Sure, iOS 7 answers a lot of features that would make tweaks like DeepEnd, Photo Filters, SBSettings, Instashare, Auto App Updater etc. redundant or useless. But that’s really only scratching the surface. iOS 7 is cool and has a lot of new features that were previously only possible through Cydia tweaks but still, iOS 7 lacks a few things that I assume would warrant keeping your jailbreak intact.

To cite a few examples:

Activator gestures are still a missing feature in iOS 7. Of course, that’s like asking too much but you get the idea.

I cannot kill all apps with a tap in iOS 7 but there’s KillBackground for iOS 6.x jailbroken.

iOS 7 is definitely visually pleasing but I have to stick to iOS 6.x if I want to take full-control of the theming options.

Speaking of the lockscreen, IntelliScreenX or LockInfo! Enough said?

Now, I’m not deriding iOS 7. If you happen to read through some of our earlier posts, you’ll find that we’re as much amused, interested and occasionally surprised by the various new features in iOS 7. I also understand that a lot of people will want to try out the new thing before making any decision but the ultimate question that this post wants to ask (and try to answer) is, is the whole experience worth it?

It would be so much more easier if Apple lets users downgrade to iOS 6.x (not iOS 6.1.4/6.1.3 alone but any iOS 6.x) even after they’ve upgraded to iOS 7. But that’s the catch and that is why extensive jailbreak tweak users should weigh in very carefully before plunging into the new ecosystem.